Only Four of 68 Federal Universities Exploit Alternative Funding — Alausa

The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has directed Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian public universities to diversify their sources of funding and strengthen their institutions’ Advancement Offices to attract more resources beyond government allocations.

Alausa gave the directive at the National Advancement Forum 2026, where he expressed concern that only four of the 68 federal universities were currently making meaningful use of alternative funding opportunities such as research grants, endowments, alumni giving, philanthropy and industry partnerships.

The minister said the situation was unacceptable, urging Vice-Chancellors to make resource mobilisation a core responsibility of university leadership.

“Government funding is not enough. Universities live, function and excel on blended funding,” Alausa said.

He said university leaders must move beyond administering government allocations and actively build relationships with alumni, businesses, philanthropists, prominent individuals and research funders to attract additional resources for institutional development.

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According to him, universities can leverage their intellectual capital to secure funding for laboratories, scholarships, research chairs, innovation programmes and other strategic priorities.

Alausa stressed that the call for diversified funding was not a withdrawal of government support, noting that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had demonstrated commitment to education through budgetary allocations, tertiary infrastructure investments and other interventions.

He said the Federal Government currently pays personnel costs in full, while universities retain 75 per cent of their internally generated revenue and benefit from direct and special interventions from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The minister, however, said the existing government support should serve as a foundation for universities to develop more sustainable and resilient funding sources.

To improve resource mobilisation, Alausa directed that Advancement Offices in all universities should report directly to the offices of the Vice-Chancellors rather than the Registrars.

He also directed Vice-Chancellors at the forum to communicate the directive to their institutions immediately.

Alausa further directed that Directors of Advancement should have a minimum internal tenure of five years, renewable where appropriate, to enable them to establish lasting relationships with donors, alumni, industry and other funding partners.

“Advancement Office operation is a professional job,” he said, describing advancement officers as professional fundraisers who require institutional support and stability to deliver results.

The minister also urged universities to prioritise alumni engagement by developing functional databases and using technology to maintain relationships with their graduates in Nigeria and abroad.

He said effective alumni systems would help institutions identify, engage and mobilise graduates as long-term partners, stressing that alumni engagement should be treated as a strategic component of institutional advancement.

Alausa also recalled that some research and endowment funds had previously been moved into the Treasury Single Account (TSA), creating challenges in accessing the funds and affecting confidence in their management.

He said President Tinubu subsequently directed the development of a framework allowing research and endowment accounts to be moved from the TSA to commercial banks of choice.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has met you beyond halfway. He has given you the leverage and the opportunity to do your jobs well. You must now take advantage of it,” Alausa told the Vice-Chancellors.

The minister expressed disappointment that many universities had yet to fully exploit the opportunities created by the administration, urging their leaders to take advantage of the policy environment to strengthen their institutions.

He warned that universities that failed to diversify their funding bases could have their capacity for sustained growth, research and academic excellence limited.

Alausa said the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Nigerian Higher Education Foundation (NHF), would develop a comprehensive national framework for sustainable financing of tertiary institutions.

He said the framework would cover endowment governance, accountability, research grants, Advancement Office structures, alumni giving, industry partnerships, philanthropy incentives, revenue management and transparency.

According to him, public universities would be progressively onboarded into the framework, with each institution expected to build an endowment, establish effective advancement structures, maintain functional alumni databases, strengthen research funding capacity and develop partnerships with industry and philanthropists.

The minister stressed that accountability and transparency would remain central to university advancement, noting that donors, alumni, businesses and research funders would only sustain their support for institutions they trust.

He clarified that the initiative was not designed to replace government funding or make universities dependent solely on internally generated revenue but to establish diversified financing systems that complement government support and sustain academic excellence.

Alausa assured that the Federal Ministry of Education would continue to provide policy direction and an enabling environment for stronger university financing while expecting university leaders to take greater responsibility for mobilising resources.